Education in schools often takes place in the traditional way, with frontal, teacher-centred instruction, even though it is essential for best acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities to provide a student-centred environment. Information and communications technology enables transformation of the learning process. One of such possibilities is the use of podcasts. Research shows that podcasts provide a good alternative to the traditional way of learning and teaching chemistry, but it cannot be completely replaced by using podcasts alone. The use of podcasts in chemistry is an innovative approach, which requires more preparation and in-depth work from the teacher, especially in the teaching of Slovene-speaking students, as the number of Slovene podcasts is limited. As no research has yet been done in Slovenia in the field of the use of podcasts in chemistry lessons, the purpose of this master's thesis is to evaluate the usefulness of podcasts in chemistry lessons. Using the World Wide Web and research articles, I reviewed the field of application of podcasts in chemistry lessons. With the questionnaire I investigated what students think about the use and creation of their own podcasts for learning chemistry, and by interviewing selected high school teachers I found out how podcasts may already be used in chemistry lessons in Slovenia and what advantages and limitations of their applications are recognized by chemistry teachers. I have found that high school students support the use of podcasts, especially video versions, for learning chemistry, but they prefer traditional forms of learning. They do not show much interest in creating their own podcasts, but the teachers find this activity very instructive. Teachers report that they do not use podcasts often in their work. They prefer to use other activities and see the biggest obstacle in time constraints by following the learning goals according to the curriculum. The master's thesis paves the way for new insights into the use of podcasts in the field of research in chemical education and represents a major contribution to the pedagogy of chemistry.
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